3/13/16 Farewell Cap’n Sweet Pea, Hello OCEAN! Sorta..

After just under 2 weeks with us, Wade had to get back for the start of his classes and left us in Beaufort this morning. To get back to Baltimore he took: the boat, the dinghy, a cab, a bus, a train, and finally another car ride. It only took 16+ hours

After saying our farewells to Wade, we went for a quick hike on the Rachael Carson reserve where we encountered hordes of fiddler crabs! Millions of them! The scenery was great and luckily the horses kept their distance.

We then hopped back on the In Sanity to catch the tide for our next maneuver. We decided to shoot the Beaufort/Morehead city inlet and try to do some diving. We made it out of the channel but the 4’ rollers and the multiplying whitecaps had us heading for the barn. We pulled in across the inlet from where we started the day. We tied up at the Morehead City Gulf docks where we bought 100 gallons of diesel and tied up for the night. We have been getting about 2 miles per gallon over the course of the trip - including running the generator! 

We had an excellent evening. It started with the dockhand who was very knowledgeable, friendly, and also had dabbled in oyster aquaculture! He later returned with some tuna a charter boat had given him earlier in the day. We threw it on the grill on the back deck and watched the sun go down. A $7 million Viking (about 80’) pulled in next to us and loaded up with diesel for, rumor had it, a crossing to the Azores! We watched dolphins catch fish in their underwater lights after the sun went down.

An old friend of ours and a new one stopped in for a quick “Hello” as well. Josh, one of our old college friends, happened to be in the area with his girlfriend. He had a long ride home and we were planning on stopping in his neck of the woods later in the trip so he didn’t stay long but it was great to see him again after 3+ years!

3/12/16 Towards the sea!

We left Oriental after a final cup of coffee at “The Bean” and headed on towards Beaufort, NC. 

Along the way, we saw our first dolphins! We also had some trouble with water depth along the way. The channels had been shifted all over the place due to some bridge construction as well as shoaling in a couple areas, and a shortcut didn’t quite work out. All in all, no damage was done but we stirred up mud twice and had a close call where a good Samaritan called us on the radio to tell us to stop “you are headed for a shoal” and give us some local knowledge to really save the day.

The anchorage in Beaufort is beautiful but tricky with a strong, reversing current , and it is crowded with some boats that have been there quite a while…

We found a cozy spot right by the rachael carson wildlife preserve. We were able to watch the wild horses during the evening from the safety of our boat. A quick stroll on the island revealed there were burrs and our chief of security got one tangled in her paw and had to be carried back to the boat to prevent further boo boos.

Shortly after our arrival in the anchorage, we noticed the smell of gasoline and an oil slick on the water. There were 3 sailboats anchored up current of us, two of which looked pretty rough. I felt bad calling the coasties on a WAFI but when a boat happened to show up within shouting distance on a patrol, I had to call them over. They didn’t give it a second look and said they already had a report about it. They drove away after giving us dinner recommendations in town… Being the monkey-wrenching greenies we are, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We set off in the dinghy with plans to do….something!

We discovered it was not, in fact one of the 3 boats we could see but in fact a fourth. That had sunk. The oil must have been bubbling up from the fuel tanks on board. A pass with the side-scan confirmed our fears.

Later that evening we went into town to explore. We found the marine museum (or whatever it's called) right on the waterfront to be VERY cool with pirate treasure, fishing, and boat building displays. We also found good food and drinks. plural. Late into the evening, a scheme was hatched to dive down to the offending boat and stop up the hole. In a busy harbor. In murky water. Climbing inside a small boat with who knows what for lines and wires and other ensnaring things. To get covered in gasoline. And plug the leaky tank full of gas with….well… we didn’t quite cover all the contingencies OK?

 The next day, after some water and coffee, it was decided this was not the best of plans and the dive gear was left stowed. If anyone in the coast guard is reading this...I have exact coordinates for this vessel!

In the land of Dragons

3/10/16 and 3/11/16

We left Balhaven early as we were excited to get going. Our next stop was going to be Oriental NC. We had to cross the Pamlico sound on our way. Similar to the Albemarle, the Pamlico sound proved to be exciting. We again had those steep 3’ waves that only the sounds can provide. The windshield wiper, as small as it is, came in handy today with all the spray.

We also passed the 300 mile mark on our trip odometer!

Entering the channel for oriental was exciting with reduced visibility, a narrow channel with the wind and current pushing us out of it, and a few crab pots sprinkled in to keep it exciting. We crash landed on the town dock. We made quite a spectacle of ourselves by being blown off  the dock before we could fully secure the boat. Wade and a number of bystanders saved our bacon by holding us off the seawall as we got more lines to cleats and horsed the In Sanity around and back onto the dock.

After the excitement,ice cream was the obvious de-stressor. Oriental came through in spades. Immediately across the dock was “The Bean”; a coffee and ice cream hangout where we were able to finally satisfy ourselves as only ice cream can.

We ran into a number of great characters in Oriental. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. We will definitely return. One example of this is our need for a new impeller for the generator. It was not a common part and we had to ship it in. We asked a marina if that was OK even though we weren’t staying there and they said sure thing. We ended up staying and chatting with them for a while.

We could stay on the Oriental town dock for 48 hours for free. So we did.

3/11/16

The second day, we toured the town some more including the nearby “beach” where Emily decided to go for a swim in the balmy 58 degree water….There may have been some talk of a bet between wade and Em that she wouldn’t last 3 minutes….Wade ended up buying drinks that night. We had dinner at M and Ms, an excellent restaurant with incredibly fresh and delicious scallops. We will be back here next time!

We also encountered a few rare North Carolina Dragon (Draco Guardianus Carolinus) nesting areas! This egg is just starting to hatch. We left quickly in case momma dragon came home.

More Ice Cream and exploring rounded out our second day in Oriental. I can't tell you about ALL that we found – I need to leave a few secrets for you, the reader, to discover on your visit! Definitely put Oriental on the “Must see” list!

March 9 - Hellhaven

The calm of the alligator river was left in our wake as we chugged on down the ICW. We traveled a little less in order to stop in what we thought would be a beautiful, fun little town – Belhaven, NC.

The entry was nice with a well-marked channel and a breakwall providing protection from larger waves off the ICW. They even had a free public dock we could tie up to. However, the dock was a little small for us with not a lot of water under it. There was also what we thought was a crab trap on one side. So we docked on the other for ease of maneuvering. After calling the town dock master, we found there was “an uncharted obstruction” on that side. Low tide revealed it was a large chunk of rusty hull-puncturing terribleness! Sure would have been nice if there was more than a small crab pot buoy marking that…

Once in town, the quest for Ice Cream, our main reason for stopping, was in vain. After 3 different stores told us they were all out, we found a greasy spoon with some local food and …yes! Soft serve!! So we got in line and waited…and waited…. And waited….They wouldn’t take our order! There was no “I’ll be with you in a minute”, they wouldn’t make eye contact, and they weren’t busy! We left after about 20 minutes, really unhappy, and tried to make our way back to the boat.  We were blocked by a train delivering something to the industrial plant next to the boat that they processed all night long. Very noisily.

Just to ice the cake: when I told a friend of mine where we were, he said he recalled getting bad fuel here.

We will continue past Hellhav, ahem, Belhaven on our next trip along the ICW

March 8 - alligator river!

Well,  they've got some sticky mid!  It took almost 30 minutes to break out of the mud this morning!  We did have a bow and stern anchor out to keep us out of the channel. ...

What a day!  We crossed the albemarle sound in 10-20 mph winds and 2-3' slop wroth the occasional 4 footer to keep us on or toes.

However,  it was the crossing into the summer and once across,  we quickly encountered 70 degree sour temps and 55 degree water!  Alligator river is gorgeous.  The wind blew itself out by mid afternoon and we had a beautiful evening.  

We dropped the hook at 3:40 PM after covering 44 miles today.  

We had unexpected guests shortly after arriving: flies!  In swarms!  So we ran away on the dinghy for a half an hour or so to explore our surroundings.  It was beautiful,  like glass. No alligators either.  

We returned for dinner but instead of eating it outside,  we were chased back in by mosquitos!  This has been our first encounter with bugs since the fall.  Luckily,  they all but disappeared and we spent almost an hour from 8-9pm on the bridge looking at the stars!  They were radiant,  and without any light pollution,  the milky way,  numerous satellites,  and a shooting star were all visible. 

A beautiful,  relaxing,  and almost spiritual end to a day that started so excitingly

March 7

Woke up in great bridge va to see a house waiting outside our window to get through the bridge and lock.  

We crossed into North Carolina around 1 pm today!

Also,  we hit 200 miles on the trip odometer!  

We shut down the engines at 4pm. We are anchored a few miles south of Coinjock nc. 

An expedition to explore the surrounding marsh revealed we were anchored just offshore of a bear sanctuary! I guess we will have to eat all the sweets to keep the bears from raiding the boat! 

Over the river and through the bridge...and lock

Day 4

Started the day in Hampton Roads and made our way through the Great Bridge lock and bridge. We found a nice 24 hr tie up just past the Great Bridge Bridge.

Free 24 hr tie up just past the Great Bridge bridge.

The weather is starting to get better and the water is starting to get warmer! The water is 50° in Great Bridge, almost time for a swim!

We went through the industrial/ navy/ government portion of the ICW in Norfolk and encountered quite a few air craft carriers, destroyers, and container ships. We were definitely dwarfed in size!

Some navy ships as we passed through Norfolk.

The In Sanity tied off to the left in a small harbor in Norfolk where we stopped for free water, a pump out, and a quick walk around.

One of a few sliding railroad bridges we went under in Newport News/ Norfolk area


One piece of bad news to report, we broke an impellor on the generator and need to find a replacement tomorrow. Not to worry, we grilled out on the back deck, a perfect night for it. Tomorrow we'll head over to a nearby marina store to ( hopefully) find a replacement and be on our way. We also passed the mile marker "0" for the ICW and the entrance to the Dismal Swamp route. We are headed through the Virginia Cut for this portion of the trip.

Waiting in the Great Bridge Lock.

Great Bridge bridge just before we went under it.